Relations in Domestic Church

Paweł Landwójtowicz

Katedra Duszpasterstwa i Profilaktyki Dysfunkcji Rodzin, Instytut Nauk o Rodzinie, Uniwersytet Opolski

Abstract

Giving a family the term of domestic Church or domestic sanctuary of Church, the Catholic Church refers to Christs promise: Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them (St. Matthew 18, 20). At the same time it accepts the fact that the family, which lies at the root of the sacrament of marriage, is a specific community, whose significant element is the presence of God and whose goal is the prime of life in the communion with God and with each other. Thus, we may speak about a dual type of the relation taking place in the domestic Church: firstly, the relation between God and people and secondly, interpersonal relations. The perspectives on the family relations in the context of the Church presume their divine-human character. Such a presumption implies the need for complying not only psychological, but also theological-pastoral aspects of family relations. Such theandricity, on one hand, gives the chance to define the ideal of marital and family life and, on the other hand, protects from separating it from ordinary everyday life, from what is human. Moreover, it enables to experience the redemption every day while living together in the family communion and creating relationship with each other and with God. In this way a specific character is inflicted on every catholic family which is provided with an enormous privilege, because intensifying and caring about interpersonal relationship allows for not only leading a happy life in the worldly dimension, but also for attaining eternal salvation, already lived through the reality of earthly existence. In the above context the question of interpersonal relationships in the domestic Church is becoming important because of their preventive quality protecting and developing this human communion, but in difficult and critical situations it may become a base for therapeutic actions undertaken to heal a marriage or family. What are the theological reasons for recognizing the great importance of impersonal relationships in the domestic Church? How to develop, how to care about the mutual relations
as to make them protect and enable people living in families to pursue their existence in the sense of fulfillment (prophylaxis)? How to work therapeutically basing on the relationships between members of the domestic Church when crisis and doubts concerning further life in the communion appear? They seem to be important questions, because there is continual need of reflection searching for motivation and applications for a modern family exposed to dynamic changes in social relations (in the micro and macro social dimension), changes that take place in observing the role, tasks and forms of the existence of the family and also changes taking place in the relations within the family. It is important to see and value the role and strength of interpersonal relationships, especially with the divine-human perspective of the domestic Church. The aim of the paper is to show the importance of relations in the domestic Church as the essential factor in creating and developing family life. Religious implications have been shown to understand the relations in the family, so as to introduce the value of the relationship in creating the life in natural and supernatural dimension, and also to introduce the strength of relations healing difficult and critical situations appearing in the course of the common existence.

Keywords:

domestic Church, family relations, prophylaxis of family relations, therapy of family relations